But instead of federally listing the fish, officials decided to try working with area landowners to protect the habitat and begin an unprecedented restoration pilot project to save the Barrens topminnow.

Sherry Sass, the founder and current board president of the Friends of the Santa Cruz River, who also worked as a fisheries biologist years ago, said that 10 years ago the group found four native fish species - the endangered Gila topminnow, the longfin dace, the desert sucker and the Sonora sucker - in the river.

"Acquisition of this property is critical for the protection of adjacent aquatic and riparian habitat along the upper San Pedro River, and it is a key step towards conserving several endangered and threatened species, including the southwestern willow flycatcher, Chiricahua leopard frogs and Gila topminnow," said Bob Broscheid, assistant director of wildlife management for the